Dallas Cowboys Kicker Dan Bailey Expected to Miss at Least a Couple of Weeks With Groin Injury
Dallas Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey has never missed a game in his career, but he probably won't be available when they take on the Washington Redskins this Sunday.
Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett has announced that Bailey might have to sit out a couple of games after he suffered a strained right groin in the first quarter of their game against the San Francisco 49ers this past Sunday. He also confirmed that they were not going to place him on the injured reserve list since he's not going to be out long anyway.
Safety Jeff Heath actually did a decent job filling in after Bailey went down with the injury early in the game. As the Cowboys' emergency kicker, the fifth-year pro went 2-for-3 on extra points and he became the first non-kicker or punter in National Football League (NFL) history to hit multiple extra points in a game.
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Heath is a former high school kicker who also has a soccer background, but they can't play him at that position until Bailey comes back. So the team decided to audition for replacement kickers on Monday and they brought in Mike Nugent, Sam Irwin-Hill and Jason Myers.
"You want a guy who is reliable. It's really important at that position you have a guy you can trust and count on," Garrett said on Monday, via ESPN.
"You're going to put the fortunes of your team in that guy's hands, or on his foot, and you want a guy you can trust and rely on. Experience matters, but you don't want to make it all about that. You want to choose the best guy. But reliability and how much you can trust them is certainly a big factor," Garrett added.
On Tuesday, the Cowboys announced that Nugent got the job. They also had to release fifth-year defensive end Damontre' Moore to make room for Nugent on the active roster.
